Skills the message for IT medium

The advice of information systems lecturer Catherine Lang to IT newcomers is to get a mentor and network. Photo: Eddie Jim

By Cynthia KarenaOctober 25, 2005

The days are long gone when IT jobs could be won on just the
strength of technical skills, says 53-year-old Catherine Lang, an
information systems lecturer at Swinburne University's School of
Information Technology in Melbourne. Now, she says, IT graduates
need communication skills to complement technical skills.

"They need to be able to communicate on all levels: in groups,
presenting to peers, written communication, and report writing,"
says Ms Lang, who is incorporating these skills into key subjects
in the IT curriculum with the aim of producing well-rounded
graduates.

Ms Lang's experience in lobbying for research grants taught her
the importance of presentation skills. "Everyone wants the money.
It's very competitive, and you need to present a convincing
argument."

With privacy of user information looming as a huge issue, Ms
Lang tries to make students think about their ethical and social
responsibilities when creating and using databases.

"We want graduates to be ethical and critical users of systems.
We get them to think about ethical dilemmas. For example, do they
create a database of illegal information (if asked)? Do they look
at confidential email? Should they monitor emails?"

She says IT graduates need to think about what information is
stored on databases and who has access to it. For instance, how
effective are the security layers protecting confidential data?
Australia has strong privacy laws, but not all countries do. "How
effective are our laws? IT graduates these days are global
employees and need an awareness of the global inconsistencies."

Increasing the status of IT among women is on her wish list as
she finishes a doctorate in what influences them when considering
an IT career. She says they seek creativity and logic and so only
arrive at IT as their third degree.

Ms Lang says tertiary institutions are reporting increasing
enrolments of women in most areas, including engineering but not in
IT, "and this goes against the trend".

But she is learning to tread softly when promoting gender
balance to people in some sections of the IT industry.

"Not everyone is ready to embrace change, and some are worried
that the environment they have been very comfortable in for the
past 20 to 30 years will be adversely affected by an increased
number of women," she says.

"I've learned to highlight the positives. Women network and
communicate more. There is research that shows a diverse workforce
will problem-solve in better ways."

IT executives who want more women on board need to present
computing from a social perspective. It's about the usefulness of
the systems more than just the technical aspects. It's not just
about the machines, but the user."

And women should realise their exclusion may not be a personal
attack: they happen because of ignorance or politics.

"For example, young women can have a sound technical
understanding of an application or system, but find that they are
being given the simpler projects, the least challenging tasks, or
even overlooked for professional development activities. It may be
just because there has never been a woman in that workplace
before."

Get a mentor and network, is Ms Lang's advice to new IT workers.
"I have been fortunate to be part of formal (Victoria ICT for
Women) and informal networks. It gives me the chance to debrief and
build knowledge over lunch and dinner, and to realise that other
women are experiencing similar frustrations.

"If it were not for a conversation with other academics at a
dinner earlier this year," she says, "I would not have had the
knowledge nor confidence to apply for PhD writing leave, for
example."

Next Lessons

· Don't just rely on your technical skills. Build up verbal
and written communication skills.

· Be an ethical and critical user of systems.

· A diverse workforce will solve problems in better
ways.

· If you want more women in IT, present computing from a
social perspective.